RT Journal Article
T1 Anxiety‑like behavior and microglial activation in the amygdala after acute neuroinflammation induced by microbial neuraminidase.
A1 León-Rodríguez, Ana
A1 Fernández-Arjona, María del Mar
A1 Mateos-Grondona, Jesús
A1 Pedraza-Benítez, María del Carmen
A1 López-Ávalos, María  Dolores
K1 Sistema nervioso - Inflamación
K1 Neuroglia
K1 Virulencia (Microbiología)
K1 Núcleo amigdalino
AB Short-term behavioral alterations are associated with infection and aid the recovery from sickness.However, concerns have raised that sustained behavioral disturbances after acute neuroinflammationcould relate to neurological diseases in the long run. We aimed to explore medium- and longtermbehavioral disturbances after acute neuroinflammation in rats, using a model based on theintracerebroventricular administration of the enzyme neuraminidase (NA), which is part of somepathogenic bacteria and viruses. Neurological and behavioral assessments were performed 2 and10 weeks after the injection of NA, and neuroinflammation was evaluated by gene expression andhistology. No alterations were observed regarding basic neurological functions or locomotor capacityin NA-injected rats. However, they showed a reduction in unsupported rearing, and increasedgrooming and freezing behaviors, which indicate anxiety-like behavior. A principal componentanalysis including a larger set of parameters further supported such anxiety-like behavior. Theanxiety profile was observed 2 weeks after NA-injection, but not after 10 weeks. Concomitantly, theamygdala presented increased number of microglial cells showing a morphologic bias towards anactivated state. A similar but subtler tendency was observed in hypothalamic microglia located in theparaventricular nucleus. Also, in the hypothalamus the pattern recognition receptor toll-like receptor4 (TLR4) was slightly overexpressed 2 weeks after NA injection. These results demonstrate thatNA-induced neuroinflammation provokes anxiety-like behavior in the medium term, which disappearswith time. Concurrent microgliosis in the amygdala could explain such behavior. Further experimentsshould aim to explore subtle but long-lasting alterations observed 10 weeks after NA injection, both inamygdala and hypothalamus, as well as mild behavioral changes.
PB Springer Nature
YR 2022
FD 2022-07-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/35276
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/35276
LA eng
NO León-Rodríguez, A., Fernández-Arjona, M., Grondona, J.M. et al. Anxiety-like behavior and microglial activation in the amygdala after acute neuroinflammation induced by microbial neuraminidase. Sci Rep 12, 11581 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15617-5
NO This work was supported by funding from Spanish Government: Ministerio de Economía, Industria yCompetitividad (grant number SAF2017-83645) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant numberPID2020-117464RB-I00). ALR received fellowships from Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional(Spanish Government) and from Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia (Universidad de Málaga, Spain).Authors are grateful to D. Navas-Fernández (Servicios Centrales de Apoyo a la Investigación, Universidad deMálaga) for his help with the acquisition of images with scanner microscope and with confocal microscope. TheLeica confocal microscope (SP5 II) was acquired with FEDER funds of the European Union.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 25 ene 2026